A Peruvian expert who has been studying the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico for 34 years, says the microscopic figures that appear in her eyes hold a powerful pro-life and pro-family message.

Jose Aste Tonsmann said the tiny images in the eyes include an entire Aztec family and are a sign from the Mother of God about the importance of life and the family at a time when both are under attack worldwide.

During a conference at the Theatrical and Social Cultural Institute in Lima, Tonsmann said a total of 13 figures can be seen in the eyes of Our Lady of Guadalupe.

The six figures that can be seen in area of the cornea are of an Indian who seated, an elderly man believed to be Bishop Juan de Zumarraga, his translator, Juan Gonzalez, St. Juan Diego, a black woman who may have been the bishop’s housekeeper and who was granted her freedom before his death, and a bearded man of European descent.

Tonsmann said the other seven figures that appear right in the center of Mary’s gaze appear to be “an Indian family.”

The young woman in center of the group looking down is the mother. At her side is the father who is wearing a hat and between them are their three children.

The other two figures appear to be an elderly couple and may be the grandparents. They are standing behind the others, and the elderly man is the only figure that appears just in the right eye.

Tonsmann said the diverse group of people that appear in Our Lady of Guadalupe’s eyes convey “a message against racism, something that is increasingly worse in today’s world.”

It is not a coincidence, he added, that only today’s technology has allowed the tiny images to be detected and their hidden message “decoded.”

“The development of technology has coincided with an age in which the family is denigrated all over the world. For this reason, we can say that the Our Lady wanted the family to be front and center in our times.”

The other message from Our Lady of Guadalupe for our age, he said, is that by appearing pregnant she is telling the men and women of today that unborn life should be respected.

“It is said but it is a fact that the abortion agenda began in the developed countries and came to our lands. There is no doubt that Our Lady of Guadalupe brings to today’s world a strong message for family and for the right to life of all Latinos, of all the children of the word,” Tonsmann said.